This invention relates to an illuminating device for use with a wheeled vehicle, such as a bicycle, comprising a battery case and a light housing, and particularly to an improvement in the wiring structure of such illuminating device.
Known illuminating devices comprise a battery case, a light housing and an electrical connection between the battery case and the light housing that is generally provided by lead wires. The electrical connection or wiring structure employing lead wires of known devices has various problems. First, since the light housing is mounted rotatably around a support axis with respect to the battery case in order to allow the angular position of the light housing to be adjusted, there is a possibility of a relatively large force being applied to the lead wires when the light housing is rotated, and if the lead wires are too short, the lead wires may be broken or damaged, or there is a possibility of the wire being cut when caught by any object.
Lead wires made long enough to have slack to accommodate full rotation of the light housing may not be desirable from an aesthetic viewpoint. In addition, there is another problem, namely, in manufacturing, the connection of the lead wires and terminals must be soldered or screw-driven, which takes much time and sometimes does not provide a secure electrical connection.
The present invention has been made in order to overcome the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an illuminating device for use with a bicycle which has a battery case and light housing and electrically connecting the battery case and the light housing with each other without using any lead wires, the electrical connection being secure, being pleasing aesthetically, and being easy to manufacture.
According to the invention, the electric terminals in the battery case are electrically connected with the electric terminals in the light housing utilizing the washers used in the connection to pivotally support the light housing on the battery case. More specifically, the illuminating device according to the invention comprises a battery case and a light housing, with a base portion of the light housing being pivotally supported by a pair of arm portions of the battery case so that the angular position of the light housing can be adjusted with respect to the battery case. The invention is characterized in that electric terminals are provided in the battery case so that the terminals hold cells therebetween, respective ends of positive and negative terminals of the electric terminals extending on the opposing sides of the arm portions, and positive and negative terminals in the light housing extend in the through-holes to the base portion of the light housing. A hole is provided through the arm portions to pivotally hold the base portion. Two washers are provided between the base portion and the arm portions. Each washer is interposed between an outer side of the base portion and an adjacent inner side of the arm portion. The washers have projections to be inserted into the through-holes to engage with the terminals from the light housing.